DuPage overnight.

Man Gets 19 Years For Mall Drug Deal

DuPage County — A California resident was sentenced to 19 years in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to delivering 10 kilograms of cocaine to an undercover drug agent at Oakbrook Center in 1994.

The sudden switch to a guilty plea was made by Luis Garcia, 55, of Moreno Valley, Calif., just as jury selection was to begin in his trial, in the Wheaton courtroom of DuPage Circuit Judge Thomas Callum, on a charge of delivery of a controlled substance.

"This was the largest hand-to-hand delivery of an illegal drug to an undercover agent in DuPage's history," said Assistant State's Atty. Richard Kayne, who was prosecuting the case with Assistant State's Atty. Keith Chval.

After meeting with Garcia in an Elmhurst hotel the morning of Jan. 14, 1994, undercover agent David Bruno agreed to buy the cocaine for $240,000.